Month: July 2014

Published on

2014-07-26

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Nordic Larp

Nordic Style Larp in the UK

By
Mo Holkar

The UK has a large and thriving larp industry, going back to the early 1980s and with an estimated 100,000+ current active participants. But awareness of larp traditions in other countries, and in the Nordic scene in particular, has been minimal until very recently.

In particular, the few months since Knutpunkt 2014 have seen a flurry of Nordic-related activity. Twelve people attended the conference from the UK (and a few from Ireland), and several threads of action have spun off subsequently.

Adam James has organized a series of short larps in London. From the Norwegian Larps from the Factory book, he first ran at two-weekly intervals The Hirelings, Limbo, A Mothers Heart and Sarcophagus. Next was The Checkerboard Crew, a game Adam himself wrote together with Nina Runa Essendrop, on 22 June 2014, which I blogged about; and the series concluded with ‘Fallen Stars’, again from Larps from the Factory, on 13 July 2014.

Cat Tobin (who is Irish but currently based in the UK) has set up a group called The Game Kitchen (Facebook group here) – whose purpose is to “talk about the design of Nordic larp, freeform games (UK and American) and story games, and then – using what we learn from each other, and from what other people have done before us – we’ll create some games. We’ll then share those games, and our conversations about the process, online so that others can learn from what we’re doing.” So far The Game Kitchen has had three monthly meetings, in London: and Cat ran a Larp from the Factory, ‘What Happened in Lanzarote’, which I blogged about.

(Cat was also responsible for writing and running The Outsiders, together with me, which I believe was the first Nordic-style larp to have been written and run in the UK.)

Richard Williams is prominent in both the above projects, and has also established a Meetup group to help coordinate activity. His hope is that this Meetup will be the one-stop shop to hear about everything Nordic-related that happens in the UK and in Ireland.

Both Cat and Richard appeared on the story-gaming podcast The Twitching Curtain to talk about their experiences at Knutpunkt 2014, and the impact they expect it to have on the UK larp scene.

Kevin Burns has started a blog about Nordic larp and related topics – its purpose is “to explore Nordic larp. Partly, I’m doing that from the point of view of a psychotherapist who wonders about how it could be used in therapy, and partly because I find the whole thing tremendously exciting and I want to PLAY.”

Finally, an excursion to neighbour country Ireland – where Carla Burns is organizing Nina Runa Essendrop’s and Simon Steen Hansen’s White Death (Hvid død) on 8–9 August 2014 in Limerick, and has already run the Larp from the Factory ‘Before and After Silence’.

As you can see, Larps from the Factory has been a really powerful tool in helping us get Nordic larp off the ground here. We are very grateful to the authors, editors and publisher!

(There’s bound to be other stuff that I don’t know about, too. Please get in touch and let me know what you’ve been up to and what you’ve got planned!)

My own hope is that we will over time develop a strand of Nordic-style larps with a UK flavour. For that reason I’m particularly interested in what The Game Kitchen is doing, reaching out to other UK gaming styles and sharing with and learning from them: and in Adam James’s work with creative people from outside gaming. It’s a powerful brew!

Photos provided by Adam James.

This article has been edited to remove a reference to a known abuser.
Published on

2014-07-23

in

Documentation

Life Under Occupation: The Halat Hisar Book

By
Johannes Axner

Documentation of larp is an important form to share knowledge and experience about the games being run. Life Under Occupation is a book documenting the larp Halat Hisar (2013) and it was just released in digital format. We caught up the books editor Juhana Pettersson, who also was one of the larps main organizers, to ask some questions.

Juhana Pettersson, photo by Mika Kettunen.

Can you tell us about Halat Hisar?

Halat hisar was a Palestinian-Finnish larp played in Finland in 2013. Its aim was to bring together Palestinian and Nordic larpers, increase awareness of issues in Palestine and create a game where the situation in occupied Palestine was recreated in an alternate reality context as occupied Finland.

How did the book project come about?

Halat hisar was always a twofold project: we wanted to make a larp, but we didn’t want to limit it to the people who participated. For us, it was important to talk about the larp and the issues it dealt with to a wider audience. We did media outreach to achieve this, but also wanted to document the game for people who wanted to learn more.

Have you worked with any other kind of documentation besides the book?

All of the documentation builds on the work done during the game by our two great photographers, Tuomas Puikkonen and Katri Lassila. Our aim was to document as much as we could, and then work that material into two publications: the book, and a forthcoming short documentary film.

What is the structure of the book and documentary, what did you decide to document?

The documentary is still in the works, but will focus on player experiences and issues raised by the game. The book largely follows the structure of the game, starting with the core background and ideas it followed and then going into the actual events. Like many larp documentation efforts, some of the material came to be because of active editorial effort, and some was more about collecting existing stuff.

Anything else we should know?

A personal reason for making this book was all the great stuff that different people had made for the game. I wanted to see these things collected and maybe appreciated by new audiences. For example, the wonderful world material by Kaisa Kangas, the game design by Mohamad Rabah, Fatima AbdulKarim and Riad Mustafa or the photos by Tuomas Puikkonen. Some of the articles have been reworked by the authors from things originally written to debrief the game on social media.

The book is available for download over at its website:
http://www.nordicrpg.fi/julkaisut/life-under-occupation/

Halat hisar was run in 2013 and you can read more about it at the Nordic Larp Wiki:
http://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Halat_hisar

All photos in the article including the cover photo are taken by Tuomas Puikkonen unless otherwise noted.
Published on

2014-07-12

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Opinion

We Don’t Abide to the Law of Jante

By
Mia Sand

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official
policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.

Editors note: This is a reply to the opinion piece by Sanne Harder titled “The Law of Jante in Nordic
Role-playing” that ran on Nordiclarp.org on 11 July 2014.

I read Sanne Harders text about “good role-playing” with great interest. Harder pinpoints some very important issues
within the Nordic larp scene. Status and nepotism are indeed present, though we perceive ourselves as open minded and
egalitarian. We are absolutely lacking a discussion about “what makes a good role-player” and how to improve ourselves.
I will however argue that discussion must have different premises than the ones Harder suggests.

How can the good larpers help the Nordic larp scene as a whole?

There are problems
within the Nordic larp arena concerning the perceived equality. Questions about accessibility, equality and everyone’s
right to feel welcome and getting the support one needs (regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ableness etc, not
to forget previous experience or lack there of). This of course overlaps questions such as “what makes a good larper”. A
non willingness to address questions about what makes “a good larper” can conceal underlying structural problems
concerning status. Status among larpers and status concerning different genres. Believe me, as a player and producer of
Vampire larps, somewhat perceived as the larping
equivalent of Harlequin novels, I have some experience in the matter. But let’s focus on the text itself. What problems
are determined, what is the solution and – of course – what is a good larper? And how can the good larpers help the
Nordic larp scene as a whole?

“The Law of Jante”, I would say, is one of the most misleading descriptions of scandinavian
collectivistic culture.

To pinpoint the essence of the problem Harder exemplifies with “The Law of Jante”.
“The Law of Jante” (established by danish-norwegian author Aksel
Sandemose), I would say, is one of the most misleading descriptions of scandinavian collectivistic culture. The
premise is highly individualistic – the collective holds back and shames any individual that outshines, or threatens to
do so, any other member in the collective. For instance the 6th law of Jante is – “You’re not to think you are more
important than we are”. Well, guess what – I couldn’t agree more. Nobody is more important than anyone else. I do
believe this sentence should pervade every larp. Even if you are an outstanding larper (I will address this question
later on) your experience and your presence is not more important than anyone else. An “anti-Jante-approach” to larping
would be somewhat dangerous or at least counterproductive. Do we want larpers to strive after outshining each other? To
teach them that talent makes you more important than others?

Harder also exemplifies with a stereotypical (and yes, I absolutely agree, highly recognizable) character; the
Gamemaster of Doom. A big problem seems to be letting newbies have their first experience lead by such a person, risking
scaring them off. But what about the Gamemaster her/himself? Who should she/he play with? How should she/he become a
better player/gamemaster? I don’t see how “rescuing” newbies from this horrible first experience benefits the larp scene
as a whole. Simply because the larp scene is a collective. Simply because elitism and focus on individuals will always
be somewhat excluding.

Let me be crystal clear. Opposing elitism does not mean avoiding boosting each other or acknowledging talent. It means
that a talented person (in one particular area) is not more important than a non-talented person. It does not mean not
acknowledging people’s safety concerning questions about gender, ethnicity, sexuality or ableness. What it means is that
no person is more important than another because of talent.

A good experience starts long before the larp itself – making props, building the group, making
people feel welcome and safe, taking care of possible conflicts, communicating and inspiring people.

So what
makes a good larper? I will address two issues here. The authors focus is individual talent, acting especially. It seems
like the author means that a good larper enters a group and inspires them with formidable acting. But first of all;
larping is not about acting, not only. A good experience starts long before the larp itself – making props, building
the group, making people feel welcome and safe, taking care of possible conflicts, communicating and inspiring people.
Not by outshining them, but by making the experience interesting and of course somewhat challenging on a personal level.
This demands a whole set of different talents – logistics, a bit of leadership, communication, craftsmanship, writing,
composing, creativity, social skills and – this is important – the ability to step back and let other people into the
limelight. Not everyone can possess all qualities, but everyone can possess one or a few, which are equally important
and – of course – should be boosted and verified.

A focus on the acting part of larping also makes a rather narrow path to walk on the way of improving. A path demanding
talents that not all players have to begin with. Hence arguing good acting makes a good larper is somewhat excluding.
But once again, there are so many other qualities that benefits the group, should we choose to change our focus. And I
believe we should. Because, second:

Larping is namely not individualistic, it´s collectivistic. Larping is not a tabletop RPG; the “good larper” being the
equivalent of the hero/PC and the “not so good larpers” the NPCs. Every players experience is equally important, some
needing more boost and guiding, others quite self sufficient, and some very experienced and/or talented can help and
push their fellow players.

The good role-player’s focus is one the group, not on her/himself.

The players I have
encountered that I would describe as good role-players are the ones that makes the inexperienced player feel more
confident, the ones that easily can take over an entire scene but takes a step back and boosts the quite wallflower to
take the lead, the ones that make people solve problems, challenge themselves and step out of their comfort zones. I
would argue a good larper builds the group, facilitating other players, plays in a giving, generous and not self
centered manner. The good role-player’s focus is one the group, not on her/himself.

I do agree that “leading by example” is not a bad thing. I do agree this is a discussion we should have to improve
ourselves as players and producers. I do agree that recruiting “good larpers” can lift an arrangement or a group, but
not by making it a “one man show”. It`s all about the group. Discussions about what makes a good larper and how to use
the good larpers to inspire and challenge other players are more than welcome. But if so I do believe the premises must
be larp as a group effort where nobody is more important than anyone else, where nobody is excluded due to lack of
talent. Not even the Gamemaster of Doom.
Published on

2014-07-11

in

Opinion

The Law of Jante in Nordic Role-playing

By
Sanne Harder

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nordiclarp.org or any larp community at large.

Outwardly, the Nordic role-playing scene seems like a tolerant, egalitarian place where everyone is welcome. But the truth is that we are so busy being equal, that we fail to see excellence, and are downright fearful of elitism. Our fear of saying out loud that some role-players are better than others fosters secret social structures, where people are included or excluded depending on how well-connected they are.

There’s a taboo in Danish role-playing. On the surface it’s about openness, tolerance, and equality, but in reality I believe it boils down to the infamous Law of Jante, the first paragraph of which says: “You’re not to think you are anything special”.

Back in the days of yore, when I started role-playing, conventions still held competitions about who was the best role-player. As a matter of fact, I once made it to the second round in such a contest. A good role-player was defined as somebody who could not only rack in loads of XP (experience points), but was also capable of doing some degree of acting. It was up to the gamemaster to decide if you lived up to these criteria.

Somehow along the line, these competitions died out. ‘Being a good role-player is not about winning or losing’ became the general approach in the tradition I belonged to – and actually, I had to agree. Once free-form became a norm at conventions, counting XP became meaningless. Role-playing became less about the game, and more about immersion. A good game should be about the individual experience of the player: How the story and the setting moved you, what the chemistry between the players were like, what you took away from the experience.

In addition to this, a lot of role-players came from backgrounds where they had been more or less ostracised or even traumatised for lack of social skills. If being a good role-player was no longer just about counting XP, the competitions could have come very close to popularity contests. We didn’t want that.

The Gamemaster of Doom

In the 1990s, the general consensus was that everyone was welcome. “Everyone can role-play”, is what people were saying. It didn’t matter if you couldn’t act if your life depended on it. Even people whose social skills were so bad that they consistently ruined everyone else’s experience were welcomed. I remember a specific “Gamemaster of Doom”, who was so bad he would just sit there, leafing through papers, without even speaking to his players. It didn’t matter: We had room for the freaks and the outcasts that had nowhere else to go.

If you were really unlucky, that might be her first and last experience with role-playing.

Except for the fact that it quickly became a lie. Because secretly, there was a selection process going on. If you had played with the above mentioned game master, you were not likely to do so again. Why should you? It was not a good experience. No, someone else had to take their turn with him, in the name of tolerance and openness. Sadly, said person would usually be the unknowing outsider, who did not yet have her social network to warn her. If you were really unlucky, that might be her first and last experience with role-playing.

As I got to know more about the other people who played role-playing games, I got better at knowing whom to avoid. But perhaps more importantly, I got to know those people who had a reputation for delivering. At conventions they were gamemasters, writers, and players. At larps, they were organisers or players.

These were people who could take an otherwise mediocre scenario and boost it so thoroughly that it became not just a good experience, but actually unforgettable. They were dynamos in their own right. At conventions, you would amble over to stand next to them, hoping to be put in the same group. At larps you could do even better, if you had the nerve: Why not phone them up beforehand and ask for your character to be a sister, a close friend, or even a lover?

The system of nepotism favoured people who were in the know. People who were already well-connected, and who weren’t afraid of asking for favours. People like me.

The Good and the Bad

The fact of the matter is that some role-players are better than others. When people ask me why I role-play, I usually say: For my own sake. Not for an audience, not to impress anyone. Just for the experience. However, this is not the entire truth. We are each-other’s audience. But more than that: We affect each-other’s experiences in good ways and bad ways. A good role-player knows this, and takes that responsibility seriously.

Some people are bad role-players, and some people are good ones.

Even though we don’t want to be open about it, it is not random: Some people are bad role-players, and some people are good ones. Sometimes the bad ones get lucky and manage to get through a game without ruining anything for everyone else, and sometimes the good ones have a bad day. But the trend is clear. In the name of our all-accepting, egalitarian community, we refrain from saying it out loud. But that doesn’t make it any less true.

Why This Is a Problem

Why should I care? I am one of those people who gets to play with all the best. And yet, it bothers me. It bothers me for several reasons.

Obviously it’s a problem that the opportunity to play with really good role-playing partners does not present itself to you unless you happen to know the right people. Often enough we even wind up scaring potentially interested newbies off by letting them play with lousy co-players. If we want our hobby to be characterised as a closed-off society where you have to fight your way in, then we are doing exactly the right thing. However, that doesn’t serve us very well in the long term.

The other problem is for the bad players themselves. Because we refuse to (publicly) acknowledge the good players, we cannot give the bad players the tools to get better. Simply put: We have not analysed what it means to be a good player, so there are no shortcuts. You have to go on spoiling a lot of people’s games before you see the light – provided you ever will. No-one will even tell you why they only play with you once, they just kind of seem to move on without you.

Solutions, Please!

At present time, I do not have the solutions. However, a good starting point would be to acknowledge the situation. If we were open about who the good players were, it would become much more legitimate for organisers to cast them into particular functions: Why not do the opposite of what we are doing now, and actually make sure that there is at least a few skilled role-players present when running games for newbies?

Similarly, larp organisers who cast solid players who can be counted on for a good delivery in pivotal roles should not be accused of nepotism. They should be applauded for making conscious choices, as they do this to give the rest of the players the best possible experience.

We need to direct our attention towards the good players

First and foremost, we need to direct our attention towards the good players. What is it that they do? Most of them tend to be seasoned role-players, with many years of experience. So it is probably not a question of an innate genetic talent, but rather a thoroughly honed skill set.

Currently there is an undergrowth of bloggers who are working on charting what skills a good role-player possesses. Needless to say, it is a difficult chore. We all play for different reasons, and being a casual gamer, you would look for different qualities than an immersionist or a dramatist would (see ‘The three way model‘ for an introduction of these terms).

Mapping Good Role-playing Skills

However, one trait seems to crop up everywhere: Social skills. As Lizzie Stark puts it: “Larp is a social activity”. The same can be said of all role-playing games that aren’t digital (and some that are). This implies something we already knew, but didn’t want to admit: Maybe not everyone is as welcome as we would like to believe. Maybe the same people who lacked the social skills to get through school unscathed find themselves confronted with their shortcomings once again.

Another Anecdote

Good role-players are the people we should be looking up to

I’m going to end this article with yet another anecdote – but this time a recent one. I was running a game for some teachers who were interested in using role-playing as a tool, but who needed to be shown what it is. I wanted to give them a good experience, so I asked a friend who is an experienced role-player to join them. Within a very short time, his mere presence managed to escalate the game in a way that none of the others would have been capable of doing. It happened in many ways: By way of imitation, but also because he was able to create action that would beget action. His participation lifted the experience for everyone else.

Pretending that ‘everyone can role-play’ is a huge underselling of the skills that good role-players have. If we want to continue making increasingly complex games, we need players that can measure up to the games. That is something we will only get if we are working consciously towards it.

There is a reason why Danes don’t like to mention that some people are better at what they do than others. We come from an egalitarian society, and we don’t like braggarts. But we have to stop equalling skill with status. What is wrong with being a skilful role-player? Absolutely nothing. Being good at something doesn’t make you an arrogant elitist. More likely, it means that you have invested a lot of time in getting good.

Good role-players are the people we should be looking up to. We need to start seeing them as a resource which should be made available. Not as a hidden discourse. As for the bad role-players: We don’t need to put them down, but we do need to show them the way.
Published on

2014-07-08

in

Nordic Larp

Pillage the Vikings!

By
Ole Peder Giæver

The Dummies’ Guide to Nordicizing Your Larp Scene for Fun and (No) Profit

By Ole Peder Giæver & Mo Holkar

A thousand years ago, Viking warriors came out of the Nordic countries, raiding and conquering in Britain, Ireland, Atlantic and Mediterranean Europe, Russia and North America. They mercilessly pillaged the finest things they could find. Now it’s time for the rest of the world to take something back – and to help themselves to the very best ideas, principles and resources of Nordic larp. Here’s your guide to incorporating Nordic theory and practice into your own larp scene…

Nordic Larp

What do we mean by Nordic larp? At its most general, it could mean any kind of larp that comes from the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway). But here we’re talking mostly about the tradition of thoughtful, progressive, artistic games that has emerged around the annual Knutepunkt convention. This tradition can sometimes come across as little opaque and self-important. It does take larp really, really seriously. But it’s also able to poke fun at itself.

Over the past 13+ years, the Nordic larp community has put together a huge body of work, where documentation, research and constant discussion/experimentation have been central. The idea behind this article/collection of links is to give an overview of some of the material that’s out there, freely available online. It’s meant to be a starting point for doing your own research, from which you can pick and choose whichever short larps, workshop techniques, theories, articles and manifestos suit the purposes of yourself and your local community. We suggest you steal whatever seems of use, fully aware that the Nords might come and pillage you right back at the next turn. That’s the way global larp culture works!

Primers

Introduction to Nordic Larp by Johanna Koljonen. Watch this Nordic Larp Talk video for a brief introduction to Nordic Larp and why it’s an art form worth knowing more about.

Nordic Larp for Noobs – American author Lizzie Stark gives a walkthrough introduction to central concepts of the Nordic Larp tradition, comparing it with the US larps she encountered whilst researching her book on larp, Leaving Mundania. This article is especially good if you want a clearer grasp on what actually goes on in some of these games, and the aspects that might differentiate them from other games you’re used to.

What does Nordic Larp mean? – Finnish game researcher Jaakko Stenros gave this keynote speech before Knutepunkt in 2013. It’s half an hour long, but it’s really clear and concise, defining the term, ‘brand’ and tradition of Nordic Larp. You can either view the talk itself (see previous link), or go read the transcript (which has some fun slides and illustrations) here.

The Foundation Stone of Nordic Larp – This book, made for Knutpunkt 2014 in Sweden, specifically aims to serve as a primer for people new to the Nordic larp discourse and tradition. It’s available as a free PDF (as are all Knutepunkt books). The book is 300 pages long: it contains some newly-written introductory essays, a presentation of some of the Nordic Larp Talk videos you might want to check out, and a collection of essays that were particular highlights of previous Knutepunkt books. (Here’s a review of the book that may give you an initial impression and guide you through the essays.

Nordic Larp – An epic tome that presents a cross-section of this vibrant culture through 30 outstanding larps, by presenting stories told by designers, players and researchers, with over 250 photographs. In addition the book contains essays explaining the history and rhetoric of Nordic larp, and contextualizing it in relation to theatre, art and games. In 2012 the book received the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming. The link leads to a free PDF copy of the book, which is around 300 pages long. (If that seems a bit much, start by looking at the pretty pictures… and work from there following what looks most interesting.)

Nordic Larp on TLC – A 14-minute documentary shot in Denmark, focusing on a larp set under a repressive regime.

Games

Mad about the Boy is a larp about survivors of a global disaster that killed all men in mere minutes. The site presents the larp itself, and gives you access to a larpscript that shows how the designers envision a run of the larp (including pre-written characters). This is one of very few examples of a ready-to-run larger-scale Nordic larp currently available. It’s a useful resource to get a better idea of the practicalities of designing and running such larps.

Just a Little Lovin’ – The website for the 2013 run of this larp about the impact of AIDS on the gay community in New York in the early 1980s. It has a lot of interesting material about the designers’ vision and inspiration, and about Nordic larp in general.

Larps from the Factory was published in 2013, and contains 23 ‘larpscripts’ for short (one-evening) larps. This one you actually have to pay for (the PDF costs 15 EUR). The website contains some pointers on how to write a larp script yourself and a collection of videos demonstrating workshop techniques described in the book. These may seem a bit confusing if you don’t have the actual text in front of you, though.

Chamber Games – A careful and interesting selection of small-size short-duration larps that you can download and run. The editors say “Chamber games as a format is very well situated as a place where we can try new methods and experiment with form and content of what a larp can look like. The experiences we get from doing this can be relevant also to how larger larps can be organized and for developing larp as a form of expression, art and entertainment.”

Jeepform is a brand/design tradition separate from, but intertwined with Nordic larp (many of the designers are active in both communities). Jeepform might be called a hybridized form of table-top role-playing and larp. The design collective has put out a number of scenarios which require very little in the way of costumes and props, rather experimenting with techniques and exploring subjects on the border of what has been common in traditional role-playing games. The site is in English, has a number of games for free download, and includes a dictionary of sorts explaining central concepts. Before visiting the site proper, you might want to read American author Lizzie Stark’s article ‘Jeepform for Noobs’.

Stockholm Scenario Festival has 22 scenarios for free download. They’re all written down, re-playable and playable without the writers present. Some are written in the Jeepform tradition, some are short larps, others are ‘black box larps’.

Practical Resources

Pre-game workshops – This blog is a tool for larp organizers and others interested in methods for character development and group building, and has been created to gather knowledge and particularly methods for doing different kinds of larp workshops.

Debriefing Intense Larps 101 – Many larps in the Nordic tradition deal with mature subjects and potentially heavy emotional content. This essay describes one approach to dealing with such experiences, the so-called ‘debrief’ (the site also has several other essays with practical applications).

Conventions

Knutepunkt – The main hub of the Nordic scene has room for around 300 participants, and alternates between Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark (changing name depending on the country). The festival/conference/convention has panel debates, short larps, workshops, lectures and social events, and draws an increasingly international crowd of larp professionals, artists, game researcher, designers, organizers and players every year. English is the official language. 2014’s occasion, which was in Sweden, can be found here: the next three conventions will be Knudepunkt 2015 (Denmark), Solmukohta 2016 (Finland) and Knutepunkt 2017 (Norway).

Grenselandet is a festival for short games held in Oslo, Norway every fall. Games are run in English, and the festival caters to an international audience.

Fastaval is an annual gaming convention in Denmark with newly written/designed tabletop role-playing games, free-form games and larps. There is also a large selection of board games, miniature war gaming and collectible card games. Danish is the primary language, but the convention also caters to English speakers.

Stockholm Scenario Festival – A freeform and larp convention held in Stockholm. English is the default language of the convention.

Publications

Nordiclarp.org – Recently relaunched as a magazine site, with news from the Nordic larp scene; a wiki that contains a lot of useful definitions, links, documentation and history ; a web-based forum; and more.

Playground Magazine – The (now defunct) Playground Magazine came out with seven issues in the period 2011–2012. It had its roots in the Knutepunkt scene, and aimed to cover larps internationally. The Nordic tradition is clearly prevalent amongst the subjects, though. All of the issues can be downloaded for free. The articles have a more journalistic approach than is the case with many of the Knutepunkt-book essays, and there are lots of illustrations and photos.

Knutepunkt Books – Since 2001, at least one book has been published to accompany each Knutepunkt convention. All of them are available for free download. The articles vary a lot in content and quality. Some are proper academic articles; others are more essayistic in approach. There’s documentation and analysis of larps held, presentations of techniques and theories, and lots more besides. It can be a little overwhelming to approach 13+ years of such discourse, so this year’s Foundation Stone book could be a good place to start.

The Book of KAPO – Free PDF documenting the Danish larp KAPO, which was set in a surreal prison camp. Also available from RollespilsAkademiet: The Book of The White War, The Book of Mad About the Boy.

Other Sites of Interest

Nordic Larp Talks – A collection of TED-talk-style videos, usually fairly short, on a variety of subjects relating to the Nordic Larp tradition. Have a look around and see if any of them catch your interest. A recommended list of videos to start off with is given early on in the Foundation Book mentioned previously.

North American and Nordic Larp Exchange – A Facebook forum set up for Nordic and North American larpers (now joined by plenty from other countries) to exchange ideas and experiences. To quote, “It’s mainly aimed at ‘mainstream’ larp and fantasy rather than art house larp, but everything larp is welcome!”

The Larpwright – Norwegian larp designer/theorist Eirik Fatland’s blog contains a bunch of interesting and clearly-explained essays on larp dramaturgy, player safety, documentation and more.

Lizzie Stark has a terrific range of material on Nordic larp and related topics – primers, advice for players and organizers, write-ups of larps and other events, and more new articles frequently added.

Claus Raasted on Soundcloud – Danish Claus Raasted makes a living doing larp. In this series of podcasts, he covers a bunch of larp-related subjects. Short, sweet and entertaining.

electro-LARP – An international network publishing articles and larp reviews from various traditions, including the Nordic one.

PanoptiCorp Documentary – A 15-minute film about PanoptiCorp, a satirical larp set in an advertising agency.

Delirium – A 28-minute documentary about this Danish larp themed around love and madness.

Geographical Labels

Some consider the geographical label “Nordic” unfortunate and somewhat alienating. This tradition of design and theory is spreading, and has entered a global discourse on larp and role-playing games. Scandinavian designers have been influenced by the US indie table-top scene for many years. Brazilian larpers have picked up games and ideas from the Nordic and US traditions and utilized them for their own purposes. Larp communities in Palestine and Belarus are developing in dialogue with the Nordic scene. Knutepunkt has participants from all over Europe, the US, Israel, Palestine, Russia, and beyond. And ‘Nords’ have been all over the place for years, learning what they can from various traditions, academic disciplines and participatory arts. The “Nordic” label has sort of stuck, though, for better or worse.

Finally

So, in this short article you’ve seen some highlights of the many terrific resources that are available to you as you start to bring Nordic goodness into your own larp experience. Nordic larpers are friendly people who love to talk and to explain about what they do – so if you have questions, you will always find plenty of answers. But be warned – it’s addictive! Once you’ve gone Nordic, you may never want to go back. We look forward to hearing about your journey!